Laurie Reads

In the period leading up to Christmas I had some time off and lots of machine quilting to do so I donned my Kinivo Blue Tooth Headset, downloaded some audiobooks from Audible and set to work. I lucked out as I really enjoyed both books I listened to during the lead up to Christmas. I picked a new to me author with Karen Witemeyer, based entirely on the cover and the cover blurb since I had never heard of Karen prior to my search for a good quilting read. I also picked up Silver Thaw by Catherine Anderson who has been on my auto-buy list for a long time. Both these books had an inspirational romance feel, without venturing into the land of too preachy, which I enjoyed.

I’m a huge fan of traditional stories with a twist. Silver Thaw delivers on the same elements that first earned Catherine Anderson a place on my favorite author list with Baby Love a traditional story with a twist.

I’ve always been a fan of fairy tales. My earliest memories include my mother and my grandmother reading me fairy tales. Later, when I went away to camp at the age of 12 or 13, there was a boy at camp that delighted us with what he called fractured fairy tales. His fractured fairy tales combined elements from several fairy tales into one story…and they were quite funny and quite ingenious. How he ever managed to come up with all the twists and turns that brought together strings from Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Three Bears to create one story – extemporaneously, I’ll never know. But I must admit, I was impressed. It’s partly because I was impressed and hoping for a similar literary experience that I was excited to host Reut and her Funny Fairy Tales Series.

This book reminded me a little of the old TV series Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. In the TV series, Dr. Michaela (known as Mike) Quinn moves from the posh world of Boston to a rough and randy frontier town in Colorado to practice medicine. The hero in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Byron Sully (known mostly as Sully on the show), was much softer and much less wounded (figuratively and otherwise) than the hero Rafe McCay in Linda Howard’s The Touch of Fire.

In general, my criteria for whether a nonfiction book is worth reading is whether I learned at least one thing from the book that would benefit me in some way. In the case of Money Loves You, I learned several things which makes it a book I’m glad I read and one I feel comfortable recommending to others.

110 Quilted Potholders is a 63 page book which offers up the patterns for 110 pretty potholders. The photo to the left shows the first five that I made using this book. The top pink/purple block is the Coxey’s Army block from page 19 in the book. The top orange block is the Double Pinwheel block from page 47 of the book. The pink and green block is July Fourth from page 20. The pink and yellow block is Sunlight and Shadow from page 33. Last but not least is the Single Irish Chain block from page 45.

When I picked up the audio version of Super Parenting for ADD for a credit at Audible I was hoping for a book that would provide some techniques that would help my niece, Lauraya, my great niece Amiracle, and my great nephew Zachariah…who are all still young children. What I got from the book is a great deal more profound than just techniques for dealing with the scattered, distracted, aspects of ADD. I learned some things that make sense of my own ADD as well as discovering a book that approaches ADD as a gift which needs to be unwrapped to be fully utilized.

With Make Ahead Bread I can make bread and enjoy the yeasty scent of baking bread any time I want to. Make Ahead Bread includes 100 recipes for bread that can be mixed up one day, left to rise overnight, and baked the next. Approached this way, just about anyone can have fresh home baked bread any time they want it.

A serial killer has been kidnapping women and killing them by burying them underground. He’s been taunting law enforcement with letters and phone calls telling them where to find the latest victims. When Dax and Mack develop a relationship the serial killer becomes focused on Mack.

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About Me

I am an author, former publisher, and an editor for Black Velvet Seductions. When I am not editing books or teaching writing classes I enjoy spending time with family, herding my 18 mostly formerly feral cats, quilting, crocheting, collecting recipes, and reading. You can follow my exploits here.

Disclosure of Material Connection

Some of the links in the posts on this site are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Some of the books and other products reviewed here are provided to me free of charge in the hope that I will mention them positively here on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers lives. I do have paid advertising on the site -- like the Amazon offerings at the bottoms of most posts. I have not necessarily used those products and am not necessarily recommending them. They are generally things I find interesting, that I may or may not have purchased or may or may not purchase in the future. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

About Guest Authors

Laurie’s Place hosts guest authors who are on blog tours. Hosting an author does not signify that I have read the author’s book or that I am recommending the book.

I recommend books through reviews on some of the other pages under the Laurie Reads tab at the top of the page. Check out what I’m reading and recommending there.